Grain steamer and drier for mills



(No Model.) I

G. L. JARRBTT.

GRAIN STBAMBR AND DRIBR FOR MILLS.

Patented June 24, 1890 :4mmz: M

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UNITED STrvrEs i PATENT' OFFICE.`

GEORGE L. JARRETT, OF'DES MOINES, IOWA.

GRAIN STEAMER AND DRIER FOR MILLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 430,652, dated June 24, 1890.

Application filed September 2, 1889. Serial No. 322,684. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE L. JARRETT, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Des Moines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Grain Steamer and Drier for Mills, of which the following is a specification.

My object is to subject grain to the direct action of steam in a conveyer as the grain is advanced and also to dry the grain thoroughly before it is discharged from the conveyer.

My invention consists in the construction and combination of a grain-conveyer, a steamchamber, tubes, and traps, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claim, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a sectional top view of the end portions of the concentric parts of the conveyers. Fig. 2 is an outside side view showing the machine in a suspended position, as required for practical use. Fig. 3 is an end View showing the position of the steam-conveying tubes. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of one of the end portions of the conveyers.

A is the cast-iron tubular front end of the machine, and A2 is a tubular extension fitted in a corresponding bore in its contracted fore part and secured by means of screw-bolts in such a manner as to produce a steam-tight connection.

B is a tubular conveyer-shaft extended through a bearing in the contracted fore part of the piece A and into the open end of the part A2 in such a manner that steam admitted into the part A2 will enter the open end of the tube and advance toward its opposite and closed end and escape from perforations that occur along its forward end portion, as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

C is an open-ended metal cylinder iitted in the open rear end of the piece A to inclose the rotating conveyer B and to confine the grain While it is subjected to the action of the steam.

C2 is an open-ended cylinder fitted and fixed in an annular screw-threaded groove inthe enlarged rear end of the part A to envelope the cylinder C and to produce an annular `steam-chamber.

D is a cast-metal tubular end piece, corresponding in diameter with the rear end of the part A, slipped over the rear end of the cylinder C and screwed to the rear end of the jacket or cylinder C2.

D2 is a gland or collar slipped over the end of the cylinder O and secured in a bore in the end piece D, as required to produce a steam-tight connection.

D3 is the tubular rear end of the complete machine fixed on the screw-threaded rear end of the cylinder C2 in such a manner that it will serve as a bearing for the closed rear end of the conveyer-shaft B.

Dotted lines at the rear end of the conveyer-shaft indicate a belt-wheel.

H represents an integral hopper on the top of the part A, through which grain is admitted, and I-l2 a discharge-spout on the lower side of the rear-end piece D3.

J is a steam-conducting tube that extends vertically downward at the side of the frontend piece A, horizontally under it, and then up and into its under side to convey steam into the annular steam-chamber existing between the two concentric cylinders O and O2.

J2 is a branch that projects from the tube J and extends downward, then horizontally under the part A2, and then up into it, as required, to convey steam into the tubular conveyer-shaft B. Any condensed steam that gathers in these tubes can be readily withdrawn from them by means of stop-cocks connected with their horizontal and lowest portions, which serve as traps to prevent water from entering the tubular shaft and the steam-chamber that surrounds the shaft.

M represents a hanging shelf, upon which the machine is suspended in such a manner that the water of condensation that may gather in the annular steam-chamber will iiow back into the horizontal portion of the tube J.

In the practical use of my machine grain is introduced at the front end and slowly conveyed through the cylinder C by means of the rotating tubular and spirally-flanged shaft B and subjected to steam that escapes from the perforations in the front portion of the shaft. The grain prevents the steam from escaping through the inlet or outlet,

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and the heat radiated from the annular steamchamber evaporates the condensed steam in the grain and dries the grain before it escapes from the outlet at the rear end of the machine, so that the grain will be partially cooked and dried when it falls from the conveyer. Any kind of Whole small grain or crushed, cut, or ground product of the mill may be thus simultaneously steamed and dried as it passes through the machine and thoroughly prepared for packing, shipping, storing, and using for the various purposes for which grains of diierent kinds are adapted.

I claim as my invention- A grain steamer and drier comprising a tubular conveyer-shaft having a spiral iiau ge, provided with an opening at one end to admit steam, and perforations at its central portion to emit steam, a cast-metal end piece and bearing for the tubular shaft, an extension iitted in the contracted end of said end piece, an open-ended cylinder fixed in the rear part of said end piece to envelop the conveyer-shaft, an open-ended jacket slipped over the cylinder and fixed to the rear of the said end piece, a collar slipped over the rear end of the cylinder and Xed to the rear end of the jacket, a gland or plug iitted Ain the boreof the collar and iiXed to the collar, an end piece having a bearing for the tubular shaft fixed to the rear end of the cylinder and provided with a grain-outlet, a tube for conveying steam into the tubular shaft, and a tube for conveying steam into the annular chamber on the inside of the jacket, arranged and combined substantially as shown and described', to operate in the manner set forth, for the purposes stated. n

GEORGE L. JARRETT. Witnesses:

G. V. VUGH, F. O. MoDoNALD. 

